Ristorante or Trattoria are restaurants serving a wide variety of dishes including pizzas and pasta and with meat dishes and sweets also available. Expect to pay more per head as most menus will be à la carte. Don't be afraid to order only one or two courses - it is not expected or intended that you have a five course meal so order what you feel comfortable with - maybe the antipasto and a pasta dish will suffice with maybe some salad or vegetables to finish or miss out the pasta and go straight to the 'secondo'. Remember however that the vegetables are usually served as a separate course and, unless you ask, you will not be served vegetables on the same plate as your main course.
A typical Italian meal will have several courses as follows:
Antipasto: The starter - sometimes crostini or a zuppa, prosciutto with melon or mixed appetisers which may include the chef's own creations.
Prima: The first course - usually a pasta with a choice of sauce, often home-made as a dish of the day, or a risotto.
Secondo: The second course - meat or fish often from the grill or could be with a sauce. Italians love beef and lamb or veal, chicken appears less often on menus than in UK. Rural restaurants also have typical dishes of the area - wild boar, rabbit, goat or pheasant when available.
Contorni: Vegetables or salad usually fresh from the market. Look out for spinach, fagioli, potato or vegetable fritters.
Fromaggi: Cheese.
Frutta: Fresh fruit.
Dolce: Something sweet - you may be offered the dish of the day typically a 'torta' - gateau or 'gelato' - ice cream or something like tiramisu.
Pizza: Usually a separate section of a menu and can be an entire meal or taken as your prima or secondo to fit in with the other members of your party.
Do try the local dishes!
Here are a few to whet your appetite...........
Crostini: Small pieces of bread grilled with olive oil and topped with cheese, mushrooms, pâté or tomatoes.
Zuppa Toscana: Wonderful peasant soup of cabbage, vegetables, beans and bread - a meal in itself!
Pasta: Most restaurants will have the dish or dishes of the day from which you will be given a choice.
Cinghiale: Wild boar - a Tuscan speciality.
Fagiano: Pheasant - cooked in many different ways often in red wine or roasted.
Capretto: Goat meat
Cornelio: Rabbit
Fungi: Mushrooms
Fagioli: Beans - a Tuscan speciality can be served as a soup or with olive oil as a vegetable on its own with bread. Sometimes dark beans are used and sometimes white beans - either are delicious.
Porcini: Truffle mushrooms - collected wild in the field and offered seasonally as a local delicacy. Strong tasting and often served as part of a pasta dish or with pizza. Something of an acquired taste.
Tartufo: Truffle.
Zuppa Inglesi: An Italian form of trifle.
A Pizzeria, as its name implies, usually serves pizzas but will often have other pasta dishes available.
Pizzas come in many varieties usually on a very thin base and anything up to twelve inches in diameter.
A Pasticceria will offer pastries, cakes, savouries and chocolate etc. Better pasticcerias have a wonderful selection of tempting ‘goodies’ and make an excellent place for a quick and inexpensive lunch or a treat later in the day. Look out for freshly made ‘panini’ - Italian sandwiches made with crusty bread or 'scacciata' - a thin salty bread filled with tasty savouries such as tuna or ham, a typical Italian lunch time delicacy. Large cakes and gateaux are wonderful but can be expensive - some shops take special orders for birthday cakes given 24hrs notice. Some pasticcerias have tables but often the local people eat standing at the counter.
Gelato - How many flavours of ice cream can you count in one shop? Some of the best stocked Gelaterias will have over thirty flavours for you to ponder over. The home made ice cream is served individually or heaped together in large selections in huge pots or cones to be eaten with a spoon. Italians take their ice cream very seriously and you will certainly be spoiled for choice. Everyone has their favourite - what's yours?
One of the finest Pasticcerias/Gelaterias that we know is in Poggibonsi just behind the Agip petrol station and opposite the big hotel Alcide. It is called Bar Gelateria Ledda (closed on Thursdays). If you are in the area it really is worth a visit.
Bars serve alcoholic drinks all day as well as coffee, cappuccino, tea, soft drinks, and some snacks. Some bars also have ice cream. It is also possible to buy milk and bottled water in some larger bars but it is usually expensive - probably just as an emergency in case you run out when the shops are closed.
Caffe - ‘normale’: small cup of very strong black coffee.
Caffe -‘lungo’: has a little more water added - still very strong.
Caffe - ‘macchiato’: a small cup of coffee with a splash of milk.
Caffe - ‘corretto’: a small cup of coffee with a dash of brandy or other spirit.
Cappuccino: frothy, creamy coffee served in a larger cup. Not as strong tasting.
Te - ‘tea’: very few bars serve a good cup of tea as they do not use boiling water - it will usually be served to you as a teapot full of hot water with a tea bag on the side for you to add to the pot. Milk may be hot or cold.
Italians love their wines and rightly so. You will be surrounded by an innumerable choice of vineyards in this world famous region of Chianti. Whites, reds and rosé's are all plentifully available.
Most of the holidays we offer are on working vineyards where you will be able to purchase the owners' own produce at very low prices.
Look out also for 'vendita diretto' signs at the entrance to vineyards as you tour the countryside. Here you will be able to buy direct from the vineyards and possibly enjoy a sample or two before you buy.
Most local restaurants serve either their own, or a neighbouring vineyard’s wine by the litre or half litre and it is usually very drinkable and prices are always very reasonable. The house wine may come to you unlabelled, in a carafe or large bottle, and in some rural restaurants you may only be charged for what you drink instead of by the bottle.
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